Wild salmon sector seeks aquaculture manager

THE wild fish body Fisheries Management Scotland (FMS) is advertising for an Aquaculture Interactions manager to liaise with the salmon farming industry.

The role will help FMS’s members manage relations between the two sectors, with the aim of protecting and restoring wild salmonid populations, according to the job advert on the FMS website.

FMS said: ‘Current and anticipated future changes to the regulatory system present an opportunity to develop working arrangements which improve the situation for wild salmonids in the aquaculture zone.’

A key element of the job will be ‘to develop and maintain professional engagement with the aquaculture industry to support the production of environmental management plans (or successor arrangements) and monitoring strategies to understand and address any local impacts on wild salmonid fish’.

FMS is already engaged with the salmon farming industry in Scotland, with representatives from fisheries trusts holding ongoing talks with the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation (SSPO), with the intention of establishing a fund to help halt wild stock decline.

FMS is also involved in the Salmon Interactions Working Group, set up by Scotland’s rural economy minister, Fergus Ewing, in 2018, to find a common approach between aquaculture and wild salmon leaders, particularly in relation to sea lice management.

Minutes from the September 2019 meeting of the interactions group reported that the bilateral discussions between the SSPO and FMS had been ‘positive and productive’.

The fish farming industry is believed to be talking about investing money and time in helping to improve the habitat of rivers and estuaries.

The Aquaculture Interactions manager sought by FMS will need ‘excellent negotiating skills’, according to the advertisement. The salary offered for the full-time post is between £45,000 and £47,000 a year.

The deadline for applications is March 12.